Franklin's lost expedition and the mapping of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago
Expedición perdida de Franklin y reconocimiento del archipiélago ártico canadiense
- Date
- 1845-1859 · confidence high
- Place
- King William Island, Nunavut, Canada
- Credited to
- John Franklin, John Rae, Francis McClintock and the Inuit
- Field
- Cosmos & Earth
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What was discovered
The disappearance of the ships Erebus and Terror in 1845 set off dozens of search expeditions that mapped much of the Canadian Arctic archipelago and clarified its navigable passages. Inuit testimony and the remains found by Rae and McClintock reconstructed the expedition's fate.
Robert McClure was the first to traverse the Northwest Passage (by ship and sled, 1850-54), but Franklin is often cited as its discoverer because of his death; the Erebus (2014) and Terror (2016) wrecks were found following Inuit accounts. The first complete crossing by ship was Amundsen's.
What it led to
- near-complete maps of the Canadian Arctic islands
- recognition of the value of Inuit oral testimony in exploration